HUNDREDS of Northumberland residents have come forward to back a national blood donor campaign.
NHS Blood and Transplant launched the campaign to recruit 100,000 new donors in 100 days following a dramatic decline in the number of young people signing up to give blood last year.
The initiative was such a success that the target was smashed two weeks ahead of schedule, with 614 people from Northumberland among 119,907 coming forward nationwide.
Assistant Director for Marketing at NHS Blood and Transplant Jon Latham said: “We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported the campaign.
“It is fantastic that we exceeded the target and people signed up with such enthusiasm, and hopefully any new registrants who haven’t got around to donating will do so soon.
“This campaign has helped to tackle the drop in new young donors from the summer and we are now looking ahead.
“We rely on new blood donors to keep coming forward as we need more than 1,000 new registrations every day to replace those donors who can no longer donate.”
A donor session will take place at Morpeth’s Storey Park Community Centre on Sunday. It will run from 10.30am to 1pm, and from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.
There will be a further chance to donate at Ponteland Memorial Hall on Friday, March 15, from 1.45pm to 4pm, and from 4.45pm to 7pm.
Blood donors should be aged between 17 and 65, weigh more than 50kg (7 stone 12 lbs) and should be in general good health. There is no upper age limit for people who have donated in the last two years.
For more information or to book an appointment visit www.blood.co.uk or call 0300 1232323.